Garrett Hardin coined the term "tragedy of the commons."
Tragedy of the commons
Garrett Hardin coined the term "tragedy of the commons."
The tragedy of the commons is a concept introduced by ecologist Garrett Hardin in his 1968 essay. It describes a situation where individuals, acting independently and rationally, deplete a shared resource despite understanding that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this to happen. Hardin argued that this overuse leads to the resource's depletion, which can ultimately harm all users.
Example
Overfishing in international waters is a real-world example of the tragedy of the commons. Fishermen from different countries may overfish a shared resource, leading to the depletion of fish stocks, which affects everyone involved.
Understanding the tragedy of the commons is crucial for developing sustainable resource management policies that prevent overuse and depletion.
Related concepts
Creative destruction
Creative destruction replaces old industries with new innovations
Adam Smith
Adam Smith coined the phrase "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher that we expect our dinner."
Benjamin Graham
Graham coined the term "margin of safety."
Moral hazard
Moral hazard occurs when an economic actor takes on more risk because it won't bear the full costs
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Nassim Taleb coined the term "antifragility."
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1976
Educational content, not financial advice.
One email a day: 5 concepts + the 5 stories that matter →
Swipe through 100 ML concepts daily
Open TickerNews